LeBron James, the NBA deserve better than Phil Jackson's tone-deaf language

I don't have the ability to read the man's heart but I know Phil Jackson is not a racist.

I'm not even sure Jackson meant any ill will when he referred to LeBron James' business associates as his "posse" in an interview with ESPN published this week.

But what I do know is that Jackson triggered a great deal of micro aggressions that minority professionals face on a daily basis.

Jackson attempted to criticize James and his business partners for an incident when James requested his then-team, the Miami Heat, stay an extra day during a road trip so he could spend more time in Cleveland. What Jackson failed to mention in his recounting of the story, according to ESPN, is that James and his team requested this extra day in order to spend Thanksgiving in his hometown.

To recap: James fed his whole team and hosted them in his house and a prominent NBA executive from another team dismissed them as kids hanging out with their hanger-ons in a single word.

Jackson's loose grasp of the facts in a secondhand re-telling of the story wasn't the issue. It was the language he used in the telling of it when he reduced smart, successful men to a slang term with a condescending tone.

A summary of the so-called "posse": Maverick Carter has worked to get James into the entertainment and media business with SpringHill Entertainment, which has content distributed across various platforms including Bleacher Report, CNBC and Starz. Carter has helped James negotiate one of the largest contracts in Nike's history, has opened doors for James in the business world and seems to ink a new deal for James outside of the basketball world on a weekly basis.

Rich Paul has started his own agency, has signed players like Tristan Thompson and helped negotiate their deals, recently signed the league's first pick in the draft and has helped James finesse advantageous contracts in Cleveland and Miami. Together, James' partners helped him give millions back to the community. They have overseen his rise to a man who, in addition to his success on the court, has been called on to help the President of the United States boost his initiatives.

On the other hand, under Phil Jackson, the Knicks have suffered from their franchise's worst losing streak in 69 years, have missed the playoffs over the past two seasons and haven't been competitive in acquiring any marquee free agents. And thanks to the language that alienated James and likely many other NBA players, Jackson hasn't put the team in a position to do so in the future.

This isn't the first time Jackson's words have put down the very players he manages. Back in 2005, when NBA players were ordered by then-commissioner David Stern to dress in business professional clothing, Jackson referred to NBA player's styles at the time as "prison garb." By making this foolish statement, Jackson inferred that the clothing players wore to express their culture and individuality actually represented thuggery and violence which was the furthest from the truth.

The loaded language Jackson used this week - whether he meant it or not - implied that Carter and Paul don't have the intellect or knowledge to adequately perform their jobs despite their ability to prove themselves over and over and over again. It is an insinuation that they simply tag along with James wherever he goes and haven't earned their stripes.

As one of the most well-known representatives of the NBA, a league built on the talent of players like James and the business savvy of people like Maverick Carter and Rich Paul, Jackson needs to be more careful about his choice of words.

He owes James, the rest of the league, and everyone watching at home at least that.